Mrs. Marie Teresa Philomena McDowell Beck
Marie Teresa Philomena McDowell Beck was born into eternal life on Monday, Dec. 10, 2012, at 12:05 p.m. in Newnan, GA, in an embrace of love and prayer, at the home of her daughter and son-in-law in Newnan, surrounded by her daughters, granddaughter, and son-in-law.
Marie was born in Lurgen, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, on Jan. 1, 1927, to James and Anne Jane Dowds McDowell.
She was a tiny, 3-pound baby imbued with a powerful spirit that would serve her throughout her life and as an inspiration to others.
She lost her parents when she was a little girl, so she and her brother, Brendan, were placed in the Nazareth House orphanage in Belfast, where they were raised separately and saw each other, throughout their youth, only through the fence that separated the girls’ and boys’ facilities.
She was taught how to care for babies, and when her brother signed her out of the orphanage when she was 18, she gained employment as a nanny in Surrey, England.
Her brother encouraged her to go to the United States, w@Obit Text:ith the help of family to start a new life.

Upon her arrival to Newark, New Jersey, in 1949, she gained employment with Dr. and Mrs. Samuel Kalb, who came to regard her as a daughter.

She became a U.S. citizen in 1956.

On a trip to Titusville to visit her aunt, she met her future husband, Walter Beck. They were married on Jan. 28, 1956, at St. Patrick’s Chapel in Newark.

She and Walter lived in Titusville throughout their marriage.

She was known for knitting Christmas stockings for her children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and other loved ones who count hanging their stockings every year among their most precious traditions and memories of Marie. Listening to her Irish accent was also loved by all who knew her.

Marie spent over half of every year in Newnan with daughters Maureen and Barbara and their families.

She created a full life in Newnan, including working as a teacher’s aide at the Newnan Presbyterian Preschool and Kindergarten, where her daughter, Barbara Kookogey, is director.